Funds from our Rainbow Intrepid campaign will help FrancoQueer reach more youth

Le Comité FrancoQueer de l'Ouest is the recipient of half of the funds raised from the (sold out!) limited-edition Rainbow Intrepid belt. We chatted with Émanuel Dubbeldam, who is the director of youth membership. He’s also a friend of Unbelts and a model for our Intrepid belts! We’re big fans of him and the whole organization. 

Le Comité FrancoQueer de l'Ouest is all about sharing resources and teaching others - in French. They’re doing super work. The group supports Francophone youth, businesses and non-profits who want to further their knowledge about inclusivity and advocacy. 

“We were born out of a very specific need for education within the community,” says Émanuel.  “[We do] informative workshops on issues that LGBTQ people face and also give them information on terminology, definitions and personal experiences.”

That’s definitely not a cheap thing to do, pals. The organization is run entirely by hardworking volunteers, and many of the workshops they give require hittin’ the road to other communities. That’s where the Rainbow Intrepid campaign comes in; the money raised from our belt sales in June will help cover those expenses. (Yay!) 

“Most of our presentations actually take place outside of Edmonton,” says Émanuel. “So that is hugely helpful to us.” The organization, who formally incorporated earlier this year (congrats, team), just built a website, so the money raised from the rainbow belt sales will also help them buy a domain. They hope to eventually share resources through that site as well, so they can spread the word online in addition to their in-person workshops. We can’t wait to see all the fabulous things these wonderful people are going to do. 

FrancoQueer is one of the two organizations Team Unbelts supported through the Rainbow Intrepid belt campaign in June.

We’re so proud to have sold out *completely* of our limited-edition Rainbow Intrepid belts. THANK YOU to everyone who supported the campaign. Exciting news: we’ll be adding Rainbow to our permanent inventory over the course of the summer. Make sure to follow us on IG to be the first to know.

- Liz Pittman